This invention relates to bearing assemblies for supporting wheels, pulleys, and other rotating members, and, more particularly, to a multipiece bearing race assembly and retainer or connection means for retaining the various portions of the race assembly together.
The assembly of various portions of a bearing race to provide a stable, wear-resistant, bearing assembly has long been a problem in the industry. In the typical bearing, a full or partial complement of ball bearings or bearing rollers is positioned between inner and outer races which confine the balls or rollers to move in an annular, generally planar path to allow movement between the respective inner and outer races. Since such inner and outer races must adequately confine the balls or rollers, means providing access to the raceway interior through the confining structure must be provided to load the balls or rollers. Prior assemblies have included an opening in the side of the bearing approximating the size of the balls or rollers which are forced therethrough into the raceway, a split outer ring which is pulled apart for loading and allowed to snap back following loading, or an inner or outer raceway manufactured in several pieces which can be assembled in succession during which the balls or rollers are loaded therein.
The use of multipiece races, either inner or outer, provides significant problems in retaining the various pieces together over the life of the bearing. Thus, prior structures have included a third member which is swaged or otherwise permanently joined to the exterior of the various pieces; a washer at the side of the ball bearings or rollers serving as a shield without touching the balls or rollers; reliance on other external pieces adjacent the multipiece assembly to retain the two together; or a split flange in one of the pieces and received by the other. An example of the latter structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,314 to E. G. Di Loreto. In Di Loreto, retention of the multipieces together directly depends on the size, configuration, and material resiliency in the elements to be joined. Thus, in Di Loreto, it is necessary to use thin-walled, resilient material to form its inner race to provide necessary flexing to join the parts. Such structure is also expensive to manufacture because of the necessity of precise milling or other machining of the parts to be joined. Further, those assemblies which rely on other external support for retention of the various parts cannot be shipped as a unit without special packaging or other precaution to keep the assemblies together.
In another prior structure, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,093,348 to L. P. Mooers, a retaining ring forms a part of the inner race which is held in place on a surface of another portion of the inner race by an annular, soft metal wire ring fitted in a groove between the surface and retaining ring after all the remaining parts are assembled. This assembly requires the groove in which the soft metal ring is seated to be precisely and carefully positioned in the two parts which are held together so that the inner race will be in proper relationship to the ball. This increases manufacturing expense and difficulty. No provision is made for preventing the retaining ring from rotation with the other portion of the inner race thus allowing increased wear. The soft metal of the wire ring also is easily susceptible to wear, stress, and pressure during use of the bearing.
The present invention overcomes the above problems by providing a simple, inexpensive, and reliable connection apparatus for joining mating pieces of multipiece bearing assemblies in a manner allowing simple assembly and secure retention of the various pieces.